Category: Running

First up- after saying how tired I felt last week, I ended up with a bit of a sniffly cold earlier in the week so maybe that was it. I took the week very easily, with a gentle 3 miles after work on Monday, and yoga on Tuesday (it’s normally Wednesdays but the hall was booked). Actually, that wasn’t so gentle- we did some (well I attempted) handstands and headstands- normally we do the tripod headstand but we tried a different (and apparently easier) one, but my shoulders were not strong enough and I didn’t make it. At one point one of the other people asked “is it blanket time yet?”- it was enjoyable and relaxing in the end, but my shoulders ached a lot afterwards. I had a late meeting on Wednesday so we had a walk before dinner, and on Thursday I visited my sister and my niece. I was planning on running on Friday after work but my back had stiffened up so I opted for a walk instead. I certainly had fresh legs for parkun on Saturday.

We were up early- I picked my parents and brother up before 8am, as it was around 50 minutes to an hour to drive up to Milton Keynes. I decided to have a little bit of breakfast as I would normally be up a bit later, so I had a little bit of granola.

We were meeting my dad’s cousin at Linford Wood parkrun- he has done a lot of running in the past (the GNR something like 15 times) and we thought that he had done a parkrun in Milton Keynes before (which is why we had arranged to go up there) but it turned out that last week was his first one- he did a sort of recce to find out where the parking was and what the course was like. The description of where it was on the page was a little confusing (MK is confusing generally with a million roundabouts, road numbers instead of names, and it all looks the same) and the satnav postcode didn’t quite take us the right way at the end- luckily we had read the instructions that said to follow signs for Linford Wood West, which we did, and reached the car park at around 8.45, to see Brian and his wife Maureen (Maureen is my dad’s real cousin, but Brian has always been known as “cousin Brian” as he is a bit older than my dad so as he grew up Brian was already in the family).

We followed the other runners along the path to the start, and had a new runner’s briefing more or less straight away. The guy giving the talk asked where people had come from, as there was a big group of tourists from various places (including Cornwall and Brighton). I said we were from Ellenbrook in Hatfield, but then realised I was wearing my Panshanger apricot t-shirt (I have an Ellenbrook vest). Someone else commented that they had been to Panshanger and loved it- it is a very beautiful course.

The main briefing warned us to give way on the paths- apparently there is often a horse on the course. I was very impressed with how silent everyone was during the briefing- sometimes people at the back chat and you can’t hear what is being said (you just join in with the clapping and guess “that’s for the volunteers, that’s for a milestone run” etc.). I think having everyone penned in (we were behind tape so as not to obstruct the path for others) must have helped. We then walked the short distance to the start, heading to nearer the back. The start was the direction of the way we had just come, so at first (without realising) we were right at the front, but once we noticed we headed back.

The course was lovely- one lap through woodland along the redways/ underpasses. At times it was close to traffic (we could hear the busy roads) but at other times we could hear birds singing and it didn’t feel like we were in the middle of a town.  The start was very busy as the paths were narrow, and they had put out cones to keep the runners to the left, away from other park users. If I was aiming for a pb I would start further forwards as I was stuck behind quite a few people- as I wasn’t bothered about time it was fine for me, and when it’s a new (to me) event it’s hard to know where to place yourself. They get a similar number of runners to Ellenbrook it seems (120+ ish) so I would need to picture whereabouts I start for that parkrun. There were lots of houses nearby, hidden in the woods, and at around the half way point we ran around some playing fields- here we could see runners across the road, but that was the only point on the course that you could see anyone else. Dad was going to run with Brian, but Brian was using a heart rate monitor and wanted to go at his own pace without feeling pressure, so Dad soon sped past me and Tony, who spent the run mainly chatting.

The course was undulating in the correct meaning, (not the way race directors call hilly courses “undulating”)- the first mile must have been gently uphill but it felt flat. There were some short down and then ups as you ran under roads, and there was a lovely long downhill bit just after 2 miles. We even joked that we were worried about having to run back up again, but it seemed fairly flat at the end. We saw a little “250m to go” sign and Tony sped up, but I was happy going along at normal speed (I was conscious of having eaten a few hours earlier…)- I managed 30.24 (with the congestion at the start making for a nice negative split), Tony was just ahead with 30.15 and my dad was super speedy finishing in 25.03! We were all there to cheer Brian over the finish line, and he got himself a new pb- he may be a parkrun convert!

We did some stretching and looked out for Mum and Maureen- we thought they had headed to the cafe so we walked there, but they weren’t inside. We then thought they had headed to the car, but as we were going we heard them coming up the path (where the runners finish)- they had gone for a wander in the woods and missed us all finish! We had joked about Mum meeting someone with a dog (she always seems to) and when we met her she had mud on her trousers from where a dog had jumped up on her.

We then had a quick photo to commemorate (this also is very funny as the battery on my mum’s camera was going, so she used my phone and was not 100% sure how to take one- the first picture was just me and Brian).

We then headed back to the car, and visited Brian and Maureen’s house for a well-earned breakfast of croissants and tea. (And although we didn’t see a horse on the parkrun course, we saw one as we were pulling into their road). It was such a great start to the weekend- a really enjoyable course (I really do like the one lap courses and there don’t seem to be that many) and a lovely time spent with family.

So that was my 16th UK parkrun, and my 99th time of running one (although in fact, the first time I was tail runner I didn’t take a finish token!). Next weekend I am marshaling – I was originally going to run, but then Dad and Tony are away (they are going to watch a match in London so have booked a hotel so they can parkrun in London first), plus I am running a half marathon on the Sunday, so I swapped over and will run my 100th all being well on the 25th March.

What did you get up to this weekend? Do you have family living close by to you?

So Sunday morning came, and despite the weather telling me it would be dry on Sunday morning, it most definitely wasn’t.

Despite having slight vest regret, I had my clif bar and some water, and then we walked down to the start together. The hotel was booked was only a 5 minute walk away, so that was very handy indeed. At the pier Andy took my jumper and then left me to find my start pen etc.

Now, I like the Brighton half, and I have completed it several times (this was my fourth time, and Andy did it once and I watched when I wasn’t well) but last year and again this year it was much more badly organised. Walking along to find the start pen, I could not actually find an entrance to the pens, and in the end someone else moved one of the metal fences so I went through the gap. In previous years they have had marshals manning the entrances, checking bib colours and so on.

FatBoy Slim (or should I call him Norman?) was starting the race off (I think I saw him warming up before the start), and I could hear his interview on the tannoy before they did the countdown. They also had their first wheelchair race, so they gave some instructions about letting them pass if they were behind you. As each wave went off, they let off cannons although they were filled with just smoke it seemed? Last year they were filled with coloured paper which all fluttered around- not sure because of the wind they could not have them filled? They played “Right here, Right now” at the start and so then of course I wondered for a while whether musicians listen to their own music or do they feel a bit weird when it’s playing?

I had no real plan for the race- I knew I would not beat my pb (set last year in Brighton), especially with the windy weather, but I was aiming for somewhere under 2.10- so long as I was under 10 minute miles I thought that would be tough but still enjoyable.

The start through the town and past the pavilion flew by, and before I realised we were heading up the coast (up a slight incline). The clouds were so low that they covered the tops of the buildings. I knew that Donna (my lovely run leader) was marshaling for the BOSH people, so I was keeping an eye out. As I was heading up the steeper hill, around mile 3, I spotted her and gave her a big shout- I was just thinking about using my arms going up the hill as she always tells us to on our club runs.

At this point the faster runners were on the other side of the road, heading back down, so I spent this section of the race looking out for Norman Cook/ FatBoy Slim. He said he was aiming for under 1.50, but I knew he would be a bit further back as he started the runners off before joining in. I didn’t spot him anyway.

There was a great drumming band near the top, and I thought we were about to turn around (someone behind me even said “here’s where we turn”) but we went past them and carried on going. It was fine but as we were high up it was quite exposed, and when we finally did turn (just after 4 miles) it got very tough as then the wind was blowing into my face, and it started to rain, so I couldn’t see through my glasses and had to keep taking them off and wiping them. I got fairly cold at this point and briefly wished I had bought a new jacket on Saturday.  Heading back into town was good, but then slightly demoralising as I reached the half way point I passed the finish when the first racers were actually finishing.

The water stations were a bit of a pain- the first few were on the out and back section, but usually they are on one side so if you want to avoid it you can run into the middle of the road. This time they were handing them out in both directions so there were people running in both directions trying to avoid them. They were trialing these new pouches (which must be more environmentally friendly than bottles- I hate bottles they are such a waste of water and plastic) so all the volunteers were shouting “squeeze and suck” as people didn’t know how to use them. Of course the volunteers were brilliant- they must have been totally freezing out there.

I do love running in Brighton because there is always great support, and this run was no different. Despite the miserable weather there were loads of people lined up along the streets, and the crowds seemed to get busier further along the route too. There were children holding big pots of jelly babies and jelly beans, and people had brought their own musical instruments along so there was always lots to look at.

I was still feeling OK as I ran out towards Hove- there were a couple more drumming bands along the way which are always good. Each time I looked at my watch it was showing 9-something, so I knew I was OK for 2.10. The bit to the final turn around point seemed to go on a bit more, and I was starting to feel a bit thirsty. The water station was as we turned, but I was distracted by an ambulance reversing (the marshals were making people move over more) and by the time I looked back there was only Lucozade- I think the water was further back. I did consider running back but with only 3 miles to go it seemed easier to just carry on (I would only have had a few sips anyway).

Miles 11 and 12 were fine and I enjoyed watching the huge waves crash onto the beach, but mile 13 was so tough- I felt like I had started to fade, and I just had no energy left- someone stopped and walked and I was so tempted but the people watching were all cheering so I carried on.

The finish line seemed so far away and I had no energy for a final sprint- even though it was my fastest mile I was still overtaken by loads of people in the final funnel- I was very glad to stop.

I was given a foil blanket (hurrah) straight away, and then someone had some Lucozade so I took a bottle as I felt like I needed some energy and fast- I felt a bit like this (but way worse) after the Bath half, and that was in cold wet weather- not sure if that affected me more than I realised.

I was given a medal (from the mayor- decked out in all his bling) and then joined queue after queue to get some cereal bars and other bits.

I might eat the cereal bar, but nothing else appeals.

Last year there was a big fuss because lots of people missed out on the very nice technical t-shirts as they were being handed out further back- some people only realised when they saw photo of them on social media. I wandered on for a bit but could not see them anywhere, and could see loads of people with medals and no-one was wearing them so I gave up looking. I the had to battle along the seafront to meet with Andy- it took me 25 minutes from finishing to getting back to the pier- only a 5 min walk if that. I was glad I hadn’t looked any longer because the front was so crowded I would have missed the check out time.

He had brought me a cup of tea  (and a cinnamon swirl for later) and my jumper so I could swap out the foil blanket.  At least it had stopped raining, and the sun did briefly come out.

We then rushed back to the hotel so I could have a shower and half dry my hair before we had to check out at 12. After my shower my skin was so sore (I knew this would happen and had bought some cream the day before)- when my skin gets cold and then warm it just goes bright red and burns- ouch! After checking out we sat in the lobby for a bit while I had the cinnamon roll and basically enjoyed sitting down for a bit.

My time was 2.03.23, so quite a bit faster than I had planned (and a clue as to why I was not feeling so great in the last half mile).

I saw later on their facebook page that lots of people were wondering about the t-shirts- they said it was a one- off last year, but it’s a shame as lots of the other Vitality events do t-shirts, and it makes it more value for money. Plus it’s such a great promotional tool- I wear my technical t-shirts a lot, and I like looking at them on other runners as I find out about other races that way too. It’s also a shame that it wasn’t clear because of the mess that happened last year.

We had just enough time to get some lunch to take on the train (and I got a lovely latte from Bluebird Tea co, plus some more tea- I didn’t like the sound of the peanut butter and banana one as I don’t generally like banana flavoured things, but this had little bits of dried banana in it and smelled pretty amazing so I treated myself) and then we had to get to the station. I had to re-wind my podcast to about 30 minutes in as it turned out I slept most of the way on the way down!

The peanut butter and banana rooibos tea was a lovely treat to have in the evening in front of the TV.

Another lovely weekend in Brighton, although I think next time I’ll do a parkrun on the Saturday and no race on the Sunday- much less stressful!

Do you like technical t-shirts from races? Do you look at technical t-shirts when you are out running? Do you wear them? I do if they are the right size (cough Oxford half not having enough small ones for the slower runners…).What sort of weather do you prefer to run in?  I know I struggle in the heat but perhaps being cold and wet affects me more than I had previously realised.

No, not an actual sandwich, but a sandwich of a run.

But first, the end of half term. I love being able to go for a run when I fancy it. On Wednesday I went for a short run in the morning.

If I run (or walk) into town, I pass this Mr Bagels factory, and it smelled amazing this week (cinnamon raisin day)!  Much better than the dog biscuit factory that I can sometimes smell. Anyway, later on the same day, I ended up driving behind a car with the reg B4GEL- Mr Bagel himself perhaps???

I enjoyed a lovely 8 mile run one morning this week (Thursday?). The sun even came out for a bit. I ran down to the lake which I haven’t done for ages, and it was great to see all the birds swimming about.

I had some friends over and in the afternoon we walked to the local park so their kids could play on the equipment- it was a bit colder and I wished I had worn my hat- the run in the morning filled me with false hope about the weather.

After a walk into town on Friday to buy new paintbrushes, and sanding it all down, I started to paint all the woodwork upstairs. Since decorating the bedroom and my office, the new whiter bits have really made the old paint look very yellow.

Annoyingly I ran out of blue tape (and I had even seen some in B&Q but decided not to buy any as I thought I had a whole roll). I managed to do most of it, but it needed a second coat.

Our driveway is still mainly blocked because of the waterworks, so after some deliberating I decided to switch my long run to Saturday, and try out running to Panshanger parkrun- it’s slightly closer at 4 miles versus the 5 miles to Ellenbrook, and when you are running there and back, plus the parkrun, those two miles make a difference.

Kit at the ready- making the most of my 50 top now as I am nearing my 100th parkrun.

Someone had posted a discussion about their long run plans on our running club facebook group, and I mentioned that it was my plan to run to parkrun, and one of my friends (Louise) messaged to say she would be at an exercise class near me in the morning, and would like to join me.

We met at the entrance to the old railway line, and from there it’s about 3.5 miles. I had not seen her for a while so it was great to catch up.

We got to the parkrun with about 10 minutes to spare, which was just about right (if we arrived a few minutes late they would let us go as we would catch the tail runner, but it would make us both feel a bit more stressed). We ran the parkrun starting near the back, so a lot of stop/starting at first as it is narrow, and finished at 33.09 for my 97th parkrun (and Louise’s 27th- she is aiming to get to 50 this year).

We then walked a bit (you have to cross the dual carriageway and then the path was very busy with runners walking back to their cars), and then ran more slowly on the way home, stopping at the top of a few of the hills. When I loaded it onto Strava I had seen another running friend had run to Luton parkrun and back, and called it a “parkrun sandwich”- I told him I was stealing that name as it described perfectly what the run was.

We then had a breakfast of toasted hot cross buns- so good. After walking into town again to get more blue tape, Andy helped me with a second coat of pain (plus a first coat to the bits I had missed off on Friday). The preparation for decorating is what I don’t like- sanding it, hoovering, wiping down walls, putting down the tape- it all takes so long and is so fiddly. It only took us a couple of hours to paint it all for the second coat, although after a while I felt I was going “snow blind” and could not tell where I had painted and where needed doing. And of course now the banisters look yellow, so we will need to work our way downstairs next- one job leads to another….

My Garmin is getting on a bit now- I have had it since 2012, so it’s doing pretty well. Now it likes to do this- I plug it in to the computer, and it starts charging, but it won’t sync- the message on the screen tells me to plug it in, but I know it is plugged in because it begins to charge. I have to spend ages (sometimes 2 mins, sometimes 10) doing and un-doing the clip, sliding the little metal bits around a bit until another box pops up to tell me that the Garmin is then connected. It’s very annoying! I am sure there are some that connect via bluetooth, so I think when I need to replace it (which won’t be long as the strap is breaking a bit too, and it is on it’s second charger as the first one broke) I will look for one that has that as a feature.

Later on I had a message on Strava saying I had lost my course record on one of the Strava splits- it is a bit of a random one as it cuts through a housing estate instead of following a main road- it’s 0.7 miles uphill and my time was 7.43- it’s funny looking down the list of people as pretty much all the ladies are from my running cub- it must be a route that we do a lot. But the person who now owns (?) it is not a name I know, and she stormed ahead with a time of 7.26- way ahead of me! I hardly ever look at these things on Strava but I do like stats, although you can get lost clicking through from one thing to another.

I have to mention right now that we have started to re-watch the series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which if you need cheering up is just the perfect thing. We’ve been watching a lot of dark things recently (Case- an Icelandic crime drama, and then we are part way through Vis a Vis, a Spanish prison drama- another one of the Walter Presents series) and we just needed something lighthearted and happy. Even the theme tune is brilliant.

On Saturday evening we realised that our boiler had stopped working- we had a problem with it back in October, which turned out to be the fan jamming. Luckily back then we got the immersion heater hooked up again (as the previous people had disconnected it). On Sunday morning I had a short run (finishing in Morrison’s as I wanted some cornflour for a recipe) and then thankfully there was some hot water waiting for me. (Someone came out to look at the boiler and it is the fan again, so this time we are getting it replaced). I then had to walk to B&Q yet again (I feel like I have been partly living there this week) as we were putting up some pictures and needed masonry nails- and of course they were out of stock! Ah well, lots of fresh air which is always good.

To warm up I made myself a matcha latte using Bluebird tea rooibos matcha which I love a lot more than green matcha. I have the honey with rooibos matcha in it, and this powder tastes like that – sweet and earthy.

I did make a right mess though as you were meant to whizz up the powder with a little milk first, before adding the warmed milk- there was not quite enough milk with the powder so it went everywhere!

I made these little Swedish almond and strawberry bites on Sunday afternoon, from the Fika and Hygge baking book. There was a slight jam explosion in the oven, but once left to cool they seemed OK although I should have copied the photo and put the flaked almonds around the edge instead of all over the top.

Somehow I have run 42 miles this week (partly because I did my long Sunday run on Monday morning, so it’s into a new week), and with Brighton half next weekend I will be taking it slightly easier. I am not sure what our club run will be on Tuesday (they are getting longer as lots of people are marathon training) but I will be only going on a very short run on Thursday.

Which smells do you love walking/running past? One of my runs went past two different Simmons bakeries, and that smell first thing in the morning is pretty delicious. Where I used to live I ran past KFC quite a lot, and I am not a fan of the oily smell. Mr Bagels is pretty high on my list though!

Any Garmin recommendations? I like that mine is simple to use, so if I could just add Bluetooth it it then that would be fab.

Which TV series have you been watching lately? I have also been enjoying It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia- you need a certain sense of humour to enjoy it, but I just laugh the whole way through.

Do you like looking at number plates?  A weird one but I always like to look at the numbers and see patterns or add them up. I saw one today M15 1 SPY, and I did think if you were really in MI5 I don’t think they would let you have that as your number plate. Although it could be a double bluff…

As we were away on Sunday morning, I did my long run on Monday instead.

I wanted it to be my longest run before the Brighton half in 2 weeks, and decided that I should run 13 miles. Last year I had run 15 miles before, but I was aiming for under 2 hours. This year I am going to enjoy it, and not worry about the time (I am in the 2-2.15 pen this time) so I thought that 13 would be far enough. I knew that from the start of Ellenbrook parkrun to home was 5 miles, so I went a slightly roundabout way of getting there. I had a bit of a rest here (after 8 miles)- took some pictures and replied to some messages before heading home again. It was cold, but the sun had come out and I was very thirsty by the end. I had taken off my jacket, but then as I turned the wind was very cold and I ended up wearing it for the way home.

I had packed a cereal bar in my belt (a lovely pumpkin one from Rude Health) but I didn’t fancy it. A mile from home I ran through the town centre, and so Starbucks tempted me in- the thought of a nice cold drink was enough to get me to have a little break.

I went for an iced drink and then bought a cinnamon swirl for later (it is sort of a tradition after running a half marathon now)- running the mile home with the ice cold drink was not good though, and even though I kept swapping hands, I ended up with numb fingers!

On Monday afternoon I was visiting a friend- we had a lovely walk along a canal and had tea and cake in a cafe, before walking back along the canal- the perfect way to stop my legs from getting stiff, although there was a lot of traffic on my drive home so I was a bit stiff by the end of the drive.

On Tuesday I did a lot of pottering around at home, cleaning, washing, sorting, and walked into town. In Holland and Barrett I spied this huge tub of peanut butter- I love the Pip and Nut stuff but the little jars are fairly expensive- this is more more economical, and easier to dip dates into as well.

Later I met Andy in town as Starbucks were doing buy one get one free on hot chocolates (he went for a Frappacino which was a much better option in hindsight as my hot choc was really quite disappointing compared to their normal one), and I made him some cookies. We don’t do Valentine’s day (I would much rather celebrate our birthdays than a “Hallmark holiday”) but as I was home it was good to be able to meet up, as if I was at work I wouldn’t be able to.

Annoyingly, the water pipes in our road are being replaced. There was a sign up at the end of the road and we got a letter through last week saying it was due to start on Monday, but then the sign went away. Sadly (I mean, it will be good in the long run, but it is so annoying right now) the diggers came and blocked our cars in our driveway on Wednesday afternoon.

I’d been out visiting friends, and had a lot of fun doing a many point turn to inch past the red fence and squeeze on to the driveway. Not sure how I am going to get my car back out again though…

It is slight chaos because the whole end of the road is coned off, and the road is on a bend, and so when you start to go you can’t see if any cars are coming. Lots of people usually park in the street too, so they have all had to park elsewhere (or like in the photo, just park on the pavement).

Do you have set routes for running or do you make them up as you go along? Since moving I still have not quite sorted my routes yet, and sometimes what I think will be 4 miles will be more like 2.5, and at other times they are much longer! Have you bought any bargains recently? Do you do anything for Valentine’s day? I did like all the posts about Galentine’s Day (taken from the excellent show Parks and Rec), although I didn’t manage a brunch on that day, I have had some lovely catch ups with friends this week.

Hey peeps! Guess what? Half term is here!

On Friday I went straight from work to the train station- we had booked train tickets from Bedford to Nottingham (and can go straight from St Albans to Bedford), so we could see the Light Night. It was actually very disappointing- Andy had downloaded a map of where everything was, but it turned out a lot of the things were only in the afternoon and not the evening. There were some bonfires in some places, and a lot of food stalls by the main square, but the few things we saw were not that great (a KA filled with a few fairy lights). But still, we had a good wander and it was good to stretch the legs after sitting on the train for a couple of hours.

On Saturday morning I was off to Forest Rec parkrun. There are a few parkruns in Nottingham, but this was the most central. I had originally planned to run there, as it was about 1.5 miles from our hotel, but I was not 100% of the directions, and the tram went straight to by the parkrun (the Forest stop).  I was checking their facebook page as they had posted on Friday night about checking for ice in the morning, but I had left by the time they posted to say it was on. I had figured that I could always just run around the park if it was cancelled. I left plenty of time to get the tram- it was only a 10 minute journey at most, and they were every 10 minutes, but I needed time to buy a ticket from the machines and read the signs many times to check I was going in the right direction- it turned out to be very simple though- just like the underground, each stop was announced and also scrolled across the screen so I could keep double checking where I was.

When I got there (not very early, around 8.45 I think) there were a few volunteers but hardly any runners. It was snowing (but not settling on the ground) so maybe people stayed in their cars for as long as possible. But just before 9 there was suddenly a huge crowd of people (185 in fact). It gave me time to read the information sign (it used to be a park for horse racing- you could sort of see it as it was long and wide, on a slope, so you could guess where the grandstand was).

The course sounded very complicated from the new runners briefing (we were even shown a map, which I like, but generally confuses me more)- but basically you started in the centre of a circle, ran out to the edge of the circle, completed two clockwise loops of the circle, and then retraced your steps back to the centre. finishing in the opposite direction to how to started, but in the same place.

The first part of each loop was flat, and around football pitches- quite muddy in places (and also with these weird yellow brush things sticking out of the grass), but nice and flat.

The second part of each loop was mainly uphill, with switch backs across various paths- so the ground was easier to run on, but it was very steep in places. At least you only had to do it twice. The final bit of the loop was a lovely downhill, although again very steep and because of the snow I was careful (partly because the snow sticks to my glasses and makes it harder to see, but also because the pavements were a little slippy).

I didn’t get lapped (I think I am unlikely to be lapped at a two lap route as if I finish in around 30, a person running it in 15 minutes would be finishing as I begin my second lap) but as I ran up on the middle of the second loop, you could look down to the right and see the finish straight, and people were already thundering towards the finish. Impressive stuff.

I didn’t look at my watch at all, and so when I got home I was pleased to see a royal flush negative split- 9.34, 9.21, 9.20, 7.57 (for the final sprint!). Position 121, 29.11, for my 96th parkrun and my 15th UK course.

I took a few photos of people finishing as I headed back to the tram stop.

And one of me with the finishers in the background.

I was trying to get the snow in the picture too, but it didn’t really come out.

I also tried to capture the steep hill, but of course that never works either! Kudos to all the marshals who were out in that weather- I do always say thanks as I run past, and one of them said “you guys are doing the hard work”- I had no breath back to reply, but I really feel that standing about in the cold is so much worse than running!

I stopped to get a hot drink in town before going back to shower, and then we were off out for breakfast- the best bit!

Mmm, Bill’s pancakes and a bit pot of tea- so good (and the tea was free thanks to paying with the Bill’s app- even better!). The snow had changed to rain as it had warmed up slightly, so after a wander around the shops was walked up to the arboretum, as I had passed that on the tram earlier and thought it might be nice.

It was cold and wet- not the best weather for enjoying outside. We only fancied a small lunch so ended up sharing a wrap (some sort of beetroot one- very tasty) and a piece of lemon and raspberry cake (this was an amazing combination).

We saw some snowdrops! Spring is hopefully on the way.

We’d booked an early dinner at Jamie’s Italian as we had a voucher, and then had booked cinema tickets to see the Lego Batman movie, so after warming up in our hotel room for a bit, we headed out for the evening.

The film was really good- I liked the first Lego movie anyway, and as a fan of Arrested Development, the combination of Will Arnett and Michael Cera was good enough to keep me laughing. There seemed to be a lot of jokes about old Batman movies (who knows which ones I have seen) but not knowing them didn’t make it any less funny. I heard some reviews where people were saying some of the jokes would go over kids heads, but there were some children in the cinema with us and they pretty much didn’t stop laughing the whole way through. This isn’t a spoiler, but what amused me so much was every time someone was shooting a gun, the noise was someone saying “pew, pew”.  Anyway, good fun and more lighthearted than our last cinema trip (T2).

The next morning it was raining a lot- we went to Starbucks for a quicker breakfast, before going around the shops for a bit.

This lovely cafe (Homemade- which also had a cafe at the parkrun park) had so many amazing varieties (you can see the lemon and raspberry on the right) so we got a piece of blueberry cake to have at home. The train home was at lunch time, so we bought some bits and listened to the film podcast on the way back. All good (apart from the fact that we forgot to turn the heating back on until we were about to drive back from the station, so it was only 12C at home- brrrr!

All in all, a great start to half term, even if the weather was a bit rubbish!

Where do you like to go for a weekend break? What are you looking forward to seeing in the cinema? I think Hidden Figures looks really good, so I am hoping to see that once it is released. Have you seen any signs of spring? Some of the daffodils have started to appear and it won’t be long before they are flowering.